


Little Trick

by AngelynMoon



Series: Secrets [20]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Darcy is Morgan Stark, Fix-It of Sorts, Found Families, Gen, Team as Family, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-08-11 23:15:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20161717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelynMoon/pseuds/AngelynMoon
Summary: There's a little trick in the Tower.





	Little Trick

His name is Loki and Morgan does not know what to do with that knowledge.

She knows who he is, knows him through stories and whispers and lonely nights when Uncle Thor was too drunk to remember that she should be in bed. He'd tell her about their adventures, about Loki's tricks and once, when it was very late and Uncle Thor was very drunk, he had shown her the only magic he could cast, a silly little trick that Loki had shown him, a spell that cast an illusion of oneself, only Loki had only known how to make one of himself and so the illusion Uncle Thor had shown her was his brother, a man with green eyes and dark hair and a smile filled with tricks.

Uncle Thor had still been grieving when she had met him, he'd trail home to her a menagerie of creatures that he had claimed to be his brother but late at night when the creature was caged and fed and watered Uncle Thor would admit that Loki would never have allowed himself to be caught so easily.

But they kept the creatures, kept them, fed them, took care ofithem because Uncle Thor didn't know what else to do and neither had she.

Like she does not know what to do now, faced with the man she knows caused the New York Invasion but also the man she knows as Uncle Thor's little brother.

He looks tired, exhausted like it's been ages since he slept and she wonders if it is true because the Tower should be the last place he comes to but he looks scared too and well, Morgan is a result of her upbringing and she is most definitely her father's daughter and so she makes the Trickster an offer she hopes won't be refused.

"Do you want some hot cocoa?" She asks him.

Loki looks at her as though seeing her for the first time, given his exhaustion that may actually be so.

"What is 'hot cocoa'?" Loki asks her.

Morgan grins and reaches out to drag Loki along with her, "Come on, I'll make you a cup."

They sit on the couch as they drink, eventually Loki succumbs to his exhaustion and the hot cocoa's sleep inducing qualities and falls sideways into her lap and while she adjusts him ever so slightly to make him more comfortable she leaves his head there, pillowed on her thigh as she combs her fingers through his hair.

He whimpers now and again, goes silent when she sings the Norse lullabies Uncle Thor once sang to her when he watched over her for a week when a Hurricane's aftermath drew Uncle Bucky and Grandpa Steve from retirement to help them, a God of Thunder and Storms unwelcome and feared at the time.

She wonders now as she cards her fingers through Loki's hair if they had been first sung by a mother lost and gone in her past, the future that has yet to come, may never come for she know that Loki only returned to Earth years from now by his brother's side to collect their father.

She wonders why Loki is here now at all, wonders how when he should be locked up in an Asgardian prison and for a moment she worries for Thor's family before she looks down as Loki whines, high and frightened and squeezes her thigh with godly strength.

She starts a new song and later when her voice begins to falter she asks J.A.R.V.I.S. to loop the sings she'd been singing.

Loki's grip loosens eventually and he remains sleeping. 

It's hours later when the Avengers stumble into the room, the hot cocoa is no longer warm but they all help themselves to it and they pause when they hear Intern's voice singing, she does not sing when she knows that she can be overheard, though they all like her voice and tell her so when they stumble across her when she is singing.

J.A.R.V.I.S. warns them to be quiet and Thor is the first to enter the room, he knows these songs, they are his mother's gift to her children to ease their nightmares and he wants, no needs, to know how this girl can sing them so fluently.

But he stumbles to a stop at the sight that greets him, has to catch his breath because Loki is there an her lap, sleeping with ease that Thor can no longer remember seeing. The song pauses and Loki jolts and there is a scream that begins to leave his mouth only to be cut off when a new song begins, as abruptly as Loki tensed up Loki stills just as quickly, his fingers clutching Darcy's leg tightly, loosening slowly as he relaxes once more.

"He's been doing that all night." Darcy surprises them when she speaks, her voice is rough and dry sounding and Tony hands her his cocoa which she drinks without complaints about cooties and Thor wonders how long she has been traped here by his sleeping brother and he is infinitely grateful to her for staying with him, for offering him her voice in song to sooth him when she refuses to share with anyone else.

"Doing what? Why is he even here? How is he here?" Tony cried, keeping his voice soft when Darcy glared at him, clearly she would not be pleased if they woke the sleeping Trickster.

"He's having nightmares, sometimes he said stuff, but not English and my Norse is a little rusty, my Uncle hasn't visited in a while." Darcy told them with a shrug as she carded her fingers through Loki's hair.

"Repeat them." Thor demanded, the songs could wait.

Darcy did, pronunciation a little off but still right enough to make Thor's face go stormy, the weather outside shifting to match.

"Uh, Thor, buddy, want to calm down?" Tony asked.

But how could Thor calm? His brother had been tortured, had called for his father, for Thor and they had not come, his father had made no mention of Loki surviving his fall before Thor had returned to Midgard but how could the All Father not know, how?

And Thor was angry, had Odin sent him after Loki then Loki would not have invaded Midgard, he'd have been safe in their mother's care as he should be now. Why was he not? Thor suddenly wondered.

"We need to wake him." Thor said softly, he did not want to, he could tell that Loki had not been sleeping, could see it in the dark bags beneath his eyes and knew the nightmares must have been keeping him up.

Darcy stared at him intently and Thor had to smile, it appeared that Darcy considered Loki hers to protect and Thor knew that she could do so.

Darcy nodded and told J.A.R.V.I.S. to quiet the music before she very gently woke Loki.

He looked at her with slightly terrified green eyes and Thor heard Clint say aloud that hadn't they been blue months ago when they had been fighting him.

And they had been blue Thor realized, he had thought little of the change, Loki often changed his features once he learned how, Thor assumed he had done so yet again, only perhaps the change had not been him but the Staff.

"Good morning, little trick, did you sleep well?" Darcy asked him as she smoothed his hair down.

Loki nodded, leaning into her touch and there was a moment when Thor thought that Loki would be fine, would pull away and they could talk and then Loki's face crumpled and his form blurred and Thor watched his brother regress to childhood as he'd seen him do only once before when Svaðilfari had taken too much of a liking to Loki and none of them thought anything of it until Frigga had come across them and seen Loki's tears and the next morning Loki had been a child again and Svaðilfari had disappeared from their halls.

Loki crawled into Darcy's lap and she hugged him close as he hid his face in her shoulder.

"What now?" Natasha scowled at them.

"Loki, sweetie, do you have anything for us, from where you were before?" Darcy asked, softly.

Loki pulled back to look at her, eyes wide and haunted in a way children should never be and Thor recalled that it had taken years for Loki to speak last time he did this, that he'd grown up all over again only Thor was much older and he no longer saw Loki as he once did, Loki was vulnerable, week Thor had thought him from time to time, in need of protection and Thor had failed him so many times now.

Loki's little hands twisted about and suddenly he had a letter in his hands that he offered to Darcy, who handed ot up to Tony.

Tony looked at the cover that said 'To those that protect Midgard' in beautiful calligraphy. He sighed and opened it, hos brief scan had him regretting it almost immediately but he began reading the letter aloud.

"'To those that protect Midgard, I have many things I wish to ask, but there is little time for that, I must ask a favor to you that I can only hope you will grant. My child is not safe in Asgard, I have searched him as have many others and we find that he cannot be held accountable for his actions against Midgard, not when he was tortured, torn apart and remade for several years before he could no longer resist. Odin All Father will not listen to reason, he will not grant my son the help he requires, he wishes to isolate him and abandon him once more, a prison so close to home but devoid of contact. My Loki needs help not prison, please grant him asylum, give him what he needs. With regards, Queen Frigga, Of Asgard, All Mother.'" Tony finished.

"Well, shit." Bruce muttered.

"Language." Steve blurted out, eyes darting to the wide eyed boy in Darcy's lap.

"Right." Tony let out a sigh, "J.A.R.V.I.S. estimate Baby's sizing and order a few outfits." Tony looked at the child now sucking his thumb as he stared at them, "Make them Avengers themed, do not tell Fury but call Agent in for a meeting, and tell Pepper that i'm sorry but I may have to cancel dinner because apparently I'm gonna adopt a God."

They all turned to stare at Tony.

"What? It's not like you lot can do it, Bucky's a former Hydra assassin, still in recovery too." Tony pointed at Steve who nodded, "You'd probably teach him how to kill." He pointed at Natasha who scowled at him, he pointed to Clint next, "I swear you don't even live here, I never see you around, and Bruce needs no reason and Thor's not even a citizen of Earth."

Darcy put her had up and Tony glared at her.

"And I am not old enough to be a grandfather." Tony declared to most of their confusion as Steve snickered and Natasha smirked, "So I get the baby and I hope Pepper forgives me for deciding without her." 

Tony sighed before walking over to the couch and smiling at Loki, he looked around two, younger than last time, Thor realized and Thor watched as Tony gained Loki's trust, watched as Tony lifted the boy into his arms and tucked him close, Loki's head falling to his shoulder sleepily.

There was something right about the image, about Tony holding a sleepy dark haired child in his arms and Thor nodded, this made sense.

"You'll be a good Father, Man of Iron." Thor said with a nod.

Tony looked at Darcy and smiled, "Yeah, I know."

And there was a watery quality in Darcy's answering smile and Thor wondered, wondered if perhaps Darcy might belong to the Man of Iron but it was not his place to inquire and it was late, they were tired and there were many battles left to them tomorrow and Thor did not know if they would be won. 

For now Thor reached over to press a kiss to Loki's forehead, "Goodnight, Loki."

They all wished the child a goodnight before heading to bed and Darcy told Tony that the lullabies helped Loki sleep.

And then Thor was out of earshot and he could only hope that his thought proved true, that Tony would indeed be a good father to his brother, as Odin was not.

\---

A/n: well whoops, didn't intend Tony to adopt Loki but what can you do, Tony just adopts all the kids he encounters and now he's got a baby trickster. 

Sorry if you wanted adult Loki, I don't know what happened one minute he was gonna be an adult the next he was a baby and it was a defense when he felt unsafe because very few people will leave children in unsafe places.

And suddenly I want a freakout from Tony about Loki turning blue and no one knows why at first because Odin never did tell Thor that Loki was Jotunn, whoops.


End file.
